Tag Archive: leprechaun pirates

Join us in Shakopee Minnesota this weekend for the great grand Pieces of Eight CD release party! Three full days of fun and frolick with thousands of our dearest fans and friends will be a fair fine debut for our first EP. Sure an’ begorah the Leprechaun Pirates are boarding the Minnesota Renaissance Festival armed with our new CD and stealing the show.

Pieces of Eight Origins and Pirate Lore

“The real de a ocho, also known as the Spanish dollar, the eight-real coin, or the piece of eight (Spanish peso de ocho), is a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after 1598. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler…

…Long tied to the lore of piracy, “pieces of eight” were manufactured in the Americas and transported in bulk back to Spain, making them a very tempting target for seagoing pirates. The Manila galleons transported Mexican silver to Manila in the Spanish Philippines, where it would be exchanged for Philippine and Chinese goods, since silver was the only foreign commodity China would accept. In Oriental trade, Spanish dollars were often stamped with Chinese characters known as “chop marks” which indicated that particular coin had been assayed by a well-known merchant and determined to be genuine. The specifications of the Spanish dollar became a standard for trade in the Far East, with later Western powers issuing trade dollars, and colonial currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar, to the same specifications.”

The Leprechaun Pirates Pieces of Eight CD

The album features eight of our favorite songs, and will be available for sale at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this weekend for ten pieces of eight each. All the songs on the CD are original or traditional or a combination thereof. We are locked and loaded and will call no quarter. Our motto for this weekend is “Take all ye can, give nothin’ back. Arrrgh Begorah Gold Doubloons!”

Fun Fact: The Leprechaun Pirate King wears a piece of eight as a charm, which he found as a wee lad when digging for buried treasure.

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We leave the high seas behind to join with those of like mind this weekend near the shire of Shakopee. It is our quest to find friends and lift the curse that continues to haunt our days as Leprechaun Pirates. We did not know when we stepped out our front doors seeking adventure what awaited us. Truly, the tales of adventure lured us away from our safe homes into the unknown, as oft has been told.

“He often used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river:
its springs were at every doorstep and every path was its tributary.
‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,’ he used to say.
‘You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.'”
– Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring, Three Is Company ~ by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Songs Begin

We will sing songs and make merry, and ask for help in lifting this curse from all who come to us. Because we are pirates, we will be seeking prizes from stage to stage and between as well. Leprechauns have huge appetites for food, fun and mischief. This business is back breaking work, the Dread Pirate Ogsnart can attest, as he’s been fitted with a back brace and is currently on shore leave. If you’ve never heard the tale of our curse, this is how it began:

“I was a pirate brave and bold, standing six foot four
I grinned a mighty pirate grin for the gold that was in store.
I overheard a crewman say, a pirate brave and tipsy,
‘Boys we’ve hit a little snag it’s guarded by a gypsy’

Join the Quest

We welcome you to come join us on our quest at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this weekend August 20th and 21st 2016 because the theme is Silk Road: Discover the Riches. There will even be a Pirate Hat making activity in the special events field, for all of you who want to join our quest, or even start your own.

And because riches shared are the easiest to discover, click on one of our gold doubloons below to share this with your friends.